


Divine In Desire

by startrecking



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-04-29 14:39:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5131316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startrecking/pseuds/startrecking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sidney plays hockey. Geno works as a vet in Russia and occasionally uploads YouTube videos. Ovie is a world renowned vlogger. Skype is very effective for falling in love. Somehow it all works out in the end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for NaNoWriMo 2015 so it's still a work in progress. This fic is inspired by [Oh, It's What You Do To Me](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1336681) by [captainskellington](http://archiveofourown.org/users/captainskellington/pseuds/captainskellington). The title is from I Got by Young The Giant. Special thanks to whysosirius for allowing me to drag them to Hockey Hell with me, and for cheerleading me through this fic. This work is currently un-betaed, so all mistakes are my own.

It's by complete human error that he stumbles across him. 

Sid's on his couch watching random YouTube videos on his laptop when it happens. The content of the videos has been declining for the past 20 minutes or so, but he has nothing better to do with his evening. The team had gone out for drinks the night before, taking advantage of the off day before the flight down to Florida, but with an early flight at the crack of dawn the next day they had all agreed that an early night would be the best. But he's bored and the videos are an easy refuge. He's just finished watching one video with small dogs cuddling up to a human sized teddy bear, and is about to click on the sequel with kittens instead of puppies, when his hand accidentally slips over the scrollbar on the mouse pad and results in him clicking some unknown video by accident. Sid sighs to himself, waiting for the page to load so he can hit the return button, but then he sees a glimpse of the video and freezes with his finger hovering above the key.

He doesn't know what gets him to freeze up, the man on the screen is far from the conventional understanding of _beautiful_ , but there's still something about him that catches Sid's eye. So far the video is just of the man, sitting in a nondescript kitchen with only semi-decent lighting. He's talking to the camera in a deep voice, the words flowing from his lips like water over rocks in a stream, but Sid can't understand a word of it. He glances at the title of the video, trying to understand what is going on. The title reads **Cough Syrup (cover)** which, Sid can only assume, means it's a song cover, but the man on the screen hasn't started singing yet, still speaking slowly in his language (Sid thinks it's Russian, but he could be mistaken) despite it being 40 seconds into the video. He's just about to hit the back button again when the guy reaches for something off camera and returns with a guitar and a dopey smile. He starts speaking again once he's settled back in his spot, a laugh bubbling through his words as he bites down on his tongue with a joking expression, but then a moment of silence falls in the video, and all Sid can hear is the static of the microphone. Sid finds himself holding his breath, anticipation for what is about to happen growing in the quiet as he watches the video with intent. He can see the man take a deep, steadying breath before his fingers start plucking at the guitar strings. The melody is beautiful and one that Sid's never heard before, and as the song starts to pick up and the man starts to sing, Sid thinks it's fair to say what he's listening to is magical.

It's not until the song is over that Sid feels like he can breathe again, the smile the man shot at the camera just before he reached forward to turn it off still lingering in his vision, and if it was possible to fall in love with a YouTube video, Sid thinks he just did.

He stares at the recommended videos that have popped up on screen for a while, back to the cat, dog and other pet like videos he was watching before clicking on the cover by mistake, not really sure where to go from there. Slowly, he moves the curser, from where it had been hovering over the return button, to the thumbs up symbol. It's the least he can do, he thinks to himself, after the all-but religious experience he's just gone through and clicks once, watching as the thumb goes from a dull grey to green and the like bar adds another one to its count. Sidney realises then that the video doesn't have all that many views, only a few hundred, which he thinks is absolutely absurd for what he just went through. What he really wants to do is add the link to the group email chain that the team has and tell them, and everyone else he knows, to go watch it. But that would be weird, right? And maybe there's also a little part of Sid that wants to keep this for himself. Instead, he takes a deep breath and shifts the cursor to hover over the man's username: Евге́ний Ма́лкин, okay so definitely Russian.

From then on it's a whirlwind of more and more videos and likes and Russian words he doesn't understand but he still can't help watching. He may also hits subscribe at one point during the night, but if it's ever brought up he'll just say it was accidental, and that he has no idea who the guy is. It's not like he's on YouTube all the time anyway. Before Sid realises it's nearing 11 pm and he's been sat watching and re-watching and liking the videos of this mysterious Russian for over 3 hours and now he only gets 5 hours of sleep until he has to get up and get ready to head for the airport. He's probably going to hate himself in the morning, but at least there's a 3 hour flight where he can catch up on any missing sleep he needs.

~*~

Past Sid was right; he really does hate himself the next morning, but he drags himself out of bed bleary eyed and in need of about three gallons of coffee so that he doesn't sleep in and miss his flight. His movements as he's going through his morning routine are sluggish at best, even with two cups of coffee in his system, and it's really just a stroke of luck that he remembers to grab his phone from where he left it charging the night before, before heading out the door. He doesn't get a chance to even check his phone until he's sat comfortably on the plane. Duper had wanted to talk about some prank the others were going to pull on the rookies that night, and for some reason Sid had to be informed. Probably for the chance to vacate the halls before anything went down, he thinks, plausible deniability and all.

When he does check his phone, however, he notices a message in his inbox from YouTube telling him he has a message for him waiting in his account inbox. Sid didn't even know there was such a thing as an account inbox on YouTube, but he checks it anyway. He can feel the blush start to rise in his cheeks before he evens opening the message, recognising the account name from the hours of videos he'd watched the night before. He tries desperately to hide the blush in the collar of his shirt, but that would be a lot easier if he were wearing a hoodie, instead he just hopes that none of the others have settled down enough to start paying attention to him. He taps the screen once to open the message.

> **To: Sidney C  
>  From: Евге́ний Ма́лкин **  
>  _Почему так много любит, но даже не говоря привет комментарий? (((_

Everything's in Cyrillic letters so Sidney doesn't understand a single word of it, let alone the three open parentheses at the end of the message, but he's guessing that's some sort of Russian text smileys. He can't tell whether they're meant to be happy or sad though. He tries, somewhat desperately, to get his phone to highlight the message, wanting to transfer it to Google Translate and decipher the message from poorly translated words, but his phone just doesn't seem to want to cooperate. When he thinks he's finally got it, however, the Captain calls through the cabin to have all electronic devices set to flight mode until they've reached cruising height, and Sid is forced to stuff his phone into his pocket with a disgruntled huff.

Flower looks over and shoots him a weird look, and that's when Sid realises that he may have been acting a little childish about the whole thing. He doesn't even know what the man wrote, for God's sake. He doesn't even know who the man _is_. All Sid really knows is that he's Russian, has a voice that Sidney could listen to for the rest of his life and never get tired of, and sings like Sid's never heard anyone sing before. He needs to stop thinking about him so much. By the time they reach cruising height a PSP is shoved into his hands with a laugh from his team mates.

"Come on Sid, it's time for us to beat you in the one thing you're not good at!" Duper hollers with a laugh which is matched by the one coming from Flower beside him.

"I hope you realise this is a team game," Sid says to the goalie, and suddenly the French Canadian's laugh is cut short, replaced instead by a face that looks determined to win. Over his laughter at the expression, Sid can hear Flower shouting something French at Duper who's now sat three rows up.

"Bring it!" Is Duper's reply, and from then on out the plane ride dissolves into chirping and almost-screams at the deaths of their characters on screen. There's only about five or six guys actually playing the game, but the rest of the team is invested enough to bet on who's going to win (the team Sid's not on tends to have the largest betting pool). It's just like any other start to a road trip, and somewhere in the midst of it all he manages to forget about the Russian email.

~*~

It isn't until Sid's laying in his hotel bed, getting ready to settle down for his pre-game nap, that he remembers the email at all. He thumbs open his phone and opens the inbox again, successfully managing to copy the message the first time around this time. Silently judging the technology he opens up the browser and posts it into Google translate.

 _Why so much love, but do not even saying hello to comment? (((_ is the translation he gets in return, and from there Sid can figure out the gist of the message, which is basically why did he not comment when he liked so many videos. Busted he thinks to himself, but still can't help but blush at the fact that the other actually noticed. At least now he knows that the three open parenthesis are probably the Russian equivalent of the frowning emoji. He doesn't see why he'd be smiling after asking something like that, anyway.

Sid stares at the translation for a moment, trying to figure out whether or not he should reply to the other. After all, he had spent all of last night fawning over the mans videos and voice, so wouldn't it be a little bit creepy? But on the other hand, the man had been the one to message him first, so maybe a small email in return would be okay. Maybe something with a bit of a joke attached so he wouldn't come off too creepy. Yeah, Sid could do that. Switching back to the message he hit reply and began to type out his reply.

> **To: Евге́ний Ма́лкин  
>  From: Sidney C**  
>  _Hello._

Sidney stared at the message for far longer than necessary, biting down on his lip slightly to try and stop the stupid giggle that was threatening to surface at his own joke. He contemplated deleting the whole thing and forever ignoring the man with the beautiful voice, his thumb hovering over the X in the top right of the screen, but something deep down held him back. Fuck, he was acting like a thirteen year old school girl with a crush, for heavens sake. Sighing at himself he shifted his thumb, pressing the "Send" button before he could change his mind again. Sidney watched as the blue line loaded fully and disappeared, indicating that the message had been sent. He checked his alarms for later and set the phone aside, content to lay back down and nap now.

Laying in bed he couldn't help but think about that first video he'd seen, the small giggle as he'd reached for the guitar, and the small smile that seemed to linger long after the video had finished. It was with those images in his thoughts that Sid fell into one of the best naps he'd had in a long time. He couldn't remember what he'd dreamt during the hours of sleep, but he did know that he awoke with a smile on his lips.

~*~

There was no reply waiting for him when he woke up from his nap, and he found himself having to swallow around the disappointment that threatened to rise in his gut. It was stupid, Sidney confessed to himself, how much he cared about this unknown man that he didn't even know the name of beside from Cyrillic letters. There was still a while left until he had to meet up with the team, taking less time to get ready for the joint meal as always, so he sat back down on the edge of the hotel bed and opened up his YouTube app to definitely not look at the mans videos, just to kill some time. But, as he was flicking through the pages in his suggested feed he must have accidentally swiped to the side, bringing him to his Subscription feed. And there, with enough English in the title in him to know what the video was going to be, was a new thumbnail from the man who's videos Sid had wanted to ignore.

  
**Q &A с Александром (OvieTheGr8)**

Not even bothering to try and translate the title, Sid clicked on the video and watched as the app loaded for a moment before playing. This time he wasn't alone in frame. Sat next to him, in front of a plain beige wall, was another man with an almost mean looking smile and a slightly hooked nose. There was something about him that put Sid on edge, but he pushed that aside to think about later, instead focussing on the Russian that he still understood nothing of. The Q&A was basic enough, and all the commented questions were in Russian so he got nowhere in understanding any of it, until, that was, one English one popped up on screen with the question: _Why don't you make videos in English?_

The question was read up by the supposed friend, who Sid guessed was the "Sasha" that Sid's not-crush kept referring to, in an accent that wasn't too heavy, but still distinct enough that Sid could guess he'd never spent an extended amount of time abroad speaking only English. He felt as though he had a personal investment in the question, and sharpened his ears to listen closely for the answer. Sasha gave the other man on screen an expectant look, which was in turn only met with one of confusion. Something quick was muttered in Russian, followed by a laugh from Sasha, who then turned towards the camera to seemingly answer for him.

"Zhenya," Sid finally had a name for the man who's voice he had fallen in love with so quickly, "he doesn't speak English. Only Russian. Too scared he will mess up on camera if he spoke English." On screen, Sasha shot Zhenya a smirk when he saw the disgruntled look that had settled over his friend's features. Sid thought that maybe that wasn't exactly what Zhenya had said, but Zhenya continued to refuse to speak English, so his complaints could only come in his native tongue. Sid thought there was something deeply endearing about a young man (Sid guessed he was about the same age as him) refusing to speak English because he was scared of making a mistake. He wanted to point out that since these videos were edited by Zhenya himself then couldn't he just edit the mistakes away? But this wasn't a friendship, so Sid couldn't just message him suggesting such a thing. No, this was still just Sidney enjoying Zhenya's content and trying not to be creepy (to no success) as he hit the like button on every single video.

Sid was left with a small smile on his lips when the video was finished, the joking attitude between the two friends had been evident even through the language barrier. The video had gotten less and less serious as it had progressed, ending in the two friends laughing so much that Sasha had to get up and leave at one point because he just couldn't stop laughing. It was with a laugh still on his lips that Zhenya bid goodbye to the camera and reached forward to turn it off, a smile matching the one Sid had seen in that first video lingering on the screen for just one short moment before the recommended videos popped up in its place. Sidney casually hit the like button, watching it turn from grey to green again, and thought for a short moment. Maybe he could leave a comment this time... at least, he could try and encourage more English videos so that he could maybe understand what it was Zhenya was actually saying for once.

He was unsure of what he should type at first, not wanting to come off as too brash or anything of the sorts, but Sid had seen YouTube comments before. They didn't necessarily need to mean anything. Just a short, quick anecdote to get his meaning across, that was all he needed. Carefully he typed out the message, reading and re-reading it over a few times to try and determine whether it was okay for him to say. He finally settled on a neutral _You should make more videos in English :)_ and hit the "post" button before he could regret anything. With ten minutes left until the team had arranged to meet up for their pre-game meal Sid pocketed his phone and grabbed his stuff. He might as well spend 10 minutes in the lobby waiting for his team like the responsible captain he was than sitting in his room fretting about a comment on a YouTube video, after all.

He pats down his pockets one final time, making sure that he has everything before heading down to the lobby. He doesn't have time to think about the video or the email or the comment for the rest of the night, because now all he needs to focus on is the game against the Panthers.


	2. DISCONTINUING

Hi guys! First of all, thank you for so many kudos and wonderful comments, truly, but I'm afraid I will be discontinuing this fic. This doesn't mean that I won't be continuing it at some other time, most definitely not, but life simply caught up with me this NaNoWriMo and I lost muse for this fic along the way. I still want to finish it one day, but I think I'll wait 'till the entire thing is done before publishing it next time. HOWEVER, I do have a new project under way that will be coming (hopefully) around mid-December, so you should all keep your eyes open for that! In the meantime, if you have any questions or concrit, please be sure to send it to my [tumblr](http://crxsbys.tumblr.com/ask) or my [twitter](http://twitter.com/mythxlogy). Until next time!

**Author's Note:**

> The first song Geno covers is Cough Syrup by Young The Giant. If you haven't already heard it go do it! It honestly is as magical as Sid makes it out to be. I do not know nor claim to know any Russian whatsoever. All Russian in this fic is purely from Google Translate, so I apologise if it's fucking terrible. If you do know Russian and would like to help me with any translations in future chapters, a comment would be much appreciated!


End file.
